MADRID, 13 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish pilot Isidre Esteve assured this Monday before the Dakar Rally dispute that they will be “faster and safer”, in a 44th edition in which he will compete with a Toyota Hilux that “adapts better” to him and in a test that “has changed a lot “and will be” very competitive “and” demanding “.
“Our balance is very positive in 2021. In 2020 we did not achieve the result we wanted, but in February we achieved a not bad set-up of the car, it allowed us to be very competitive in Baja Aragón. In Morocco we wanted to take a step forward and we were wrong. We have more rhythm, we are faster, more confident, but everyone is moving forward, the rest is also going better. We are happy, the car adapts much better to me, we get more performance out of the magnificent car we have, “said Esteve at the Repsol Rally Team presentation for the 2022 Dakar Rally.
The Catalan will participate in this test for the seventeenth time, the seventh in the car category, in a Dakar Rally that “has changed a lot”. “It is a very competitive Dakar. Last year we already realized it. I think that with the change in regulations, now there is a super car, Audi arrives with this new car, Century has many units … We have improved, we will have to see how everything works, but the most important thing is that we have confidence in our car and pace, “he said.
“70% of the route is completely new. Last year there were complaints about the areas of the stones, there is much more sand this year. There will be stages in a loop, it will be demanding, I have never seen people say that this is no longer It’s what it was … Everyone is going to run a lot. In Peru there were many time differences between riders. We know how mistakes are paid in the Dakar, we must find the necessary balance, be fast and not make mistakes that we penalize a lot, “he warned.
The Spanish pilot believes that it is “correct” that the speed limit has been lowered. “The world advances and you have to adapt. The demanding stages from beginning to end. It is wise to go more into sandy areas, but it will still be complicated. The ability to pace will depend on the ability to execute the navigation. I do not think it will go to be a more elaborate Dakar, “he analyzed about the regulations.
“OUR STRONG POINT IS RELIABILITY”
Esteve confessed that the greatest virtue of the Toyota Hilux is its “reliability”. “It is a car that has been in competition for many years, it is a hyper proven car, it is going very well. The car must adapt to us, to push it to the limit with our hands. The strong point is its reliability, something important in the Dakar”, explained.
“There are many situations that penalize us a lot, but we don’t like to complain. If there was a special category, I would certainly not race … When we puncture, Txema (Villalobos) changes the wheel in two and a half minutes, the rest he does in one minute. and twenty seconds. For me, to carry everything on the wheel, there is a moment that I need a third hand, “said Esteve, after the accident he suffered in 2007, in which he fractured the sixth and seventh vertebrae and was left prostrate in a chair wheel.
Although this fact forced the pilot to adapt and look for new ways of driving that were more beneficial for his body. “We have found other ways to do it that are just as effective. I am lucky that we have Lidia, when she arrives she makes sure that I can recover, because I arrive with shattered arms, but we do what we like,” he said.
“I think we have normalized the situation so much that we have stopped thinking how we would do it if we did not have this problem, that is the good thing. And we are fine,” he added.
At the team presentation for this 2022 Dakar Rally, Isidre Esteve was supported by his co-driver Txema Villalobos, who acknowledged that this new edition the co-drivers have “more prominence”. “With the change in the roadbook and navigation system, the co-drivers are more essential. Before it was simpler, now if we are not 100% attentive, mistakes are made,” he celebrated.
Villalobos praised the “fantastic job” done by the race management “to improve the Dakar.” “There is a lot of equality and difficulty in the co-drivers, in terms of safety they have done a lot of things, and the most important thing is the issue of the stages, the routes are bumpy, with constant changes of pace. It is intense and fun,” he stressed.
IT WILL RUN ON LOW-EMISSION FUEL
One of the main novelties of the Repsol Rally Team project for Dakar 2022 is the use of low-emission fuel. The novel formula developed by the Repsol Technology Lab has 50% biofuel, in whose manufacture CO 2 is trapped from the atmosphere, which makes carbon emissions significantly lower than those of a regular fuel.
The Dakar 2022 will have a Prologue (January 1) and 12 stages, plus a rest day, which will be held until the 14th of the same month. The organizers have designed a course markedly different from previous editions in the country that will include a good dose of sand and 8,177 kilometers of race (of which 4,258 will be timed).